After more than 3 months on the picket lines, the Writers Guild of America has finally announced an end to their strike. Of the 3,775 votes cast, 92.5% elected to stop the walkout. This means WGA members can resume doing what they do best starting tomorrow.

While it may be weeks before we see new episodes of our favorite shows, this news will immediately affect those programs that churn out daily fare. This means we should expect to see the return of late-night monologues ASAP. Meanwhile, the folks behind Saturday Night Live anticipate a brand new show come Feb. 23rd. (Of course, in true SNL fashion, that will probably be followed up by a repeat the following weekend.)

If the strikers react favorably to the proposed contract, union leaders will meet again on Sunday to finalize details. Assuming a formal vote is not needed, the writers could theoretically be back to work this Monday. Approximately 10,500 WGA members have been off the job since the strike began back on November 5th.

The Academy has consistently promised that, writers strike or no, the annual Oscars ceremony will in fact take place. Statements have been released. Comments have been made. And until recently, the Academy seemed to be sticking to its guns. But…just in case, they’re working on a contingency plan.

Scheduled for Feb. 24, the Oscars show we expect may not at all be the one we see. For now, the Academy is working on two different shows. The usual awards spectacle is still in the works, but now a second show is being planned that will include “history and packages of film and concepts” that aren’t “normally ones that we would have.” Gee, sounds great. But no matter what, they say, the show will go on. It must! How else will Hollywood honor itself?

The Academy has made contact with the Writers Guild in hopes of inking some sort of deal.

Thanks to the cancelation of the Golden Globes ceremony, the hottest ticket in town was tonight’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. Without a picket line to cross, celebrities from TV and Film were allowed to celebrate - and commiserate - together for the first time in a long while.

For star-deprived fans, the SAG red carpet was also a treat for sore eyes. What were our favorite actresses wearing? What were the latest trends? Which dresses were going to be copied by Allen Schwartz tomorrow?

Unfortunately, the evening was not all about partying. The recent deaths of Suzanne Pleshette and Heath Ledger cast a somber tone on what would normally be a festive occasion. Thankfully, tonight was not about dissecting their lives, but merely about honoring them.

Meanwhile, the neglected winners of this month’s Globes were also hoping to get a share of the honors. If they were able to pull off another victory tonight, maybe they would have a chance to give the speech they already had written.

Well, without further ado, here’s the play-by-play of tonight’s events coming to you from the fashionably late West Coast!

Thanks to an interim deal between Lionsgate and the WGA, fans of at least two scripted programs have the comfort of knowing their shows will eventually return.

Because they are part of Lionsgate Television, production on both Mad Men and Weeds can once again resume. Writing on the AMC drama was scheduled to begin way back on November 7th. Meanwhile, this recent turn of events has proved quite timely for the Showtime series; work on the 4th season was originally slated to start about now.

As a bonus, AMC has just started re-airing episodes from Mad Men’s first season. Those interested in catching up on the Golden Globe-award winning series should set their DVRs for Sunday nights @ midnight (12am on Mondays).

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced today what most people have known for weeks: the Golden Globe Awards simply cannot go on as planned. Even though the WGA failed to grant the awards ceremony an interim deal, the show’s producers had still hoped they could somehow carry on. Unfortunately, the Screen Actors Guild put the final nail in the coffin last week. After being told their presentation would lack all nominees, the HFPA finally conceded.

Although there was hope for something a bit splashier, the awards show was officially scaled down from a three-hour gala to a one-hour press conference today. The dry presser - to be hosted live by NBC News - will air this Sunday @ 6pm PT. Why the news division? Well that’s because their writers work under a different contract.

While I’m sad I won’t get to see my faves in their finest, there is one good thing to come out of all this. Now we won’t have to see Rumer Willis in her awkward stint as the next Miss Golden Globe.

Hey, even celebrities have to follow the rules - a fact that is being pointed out to late night host Jay Leno by many major media outlets. Here’s the deal: there’s an active writers’ strike going on, but the Tonight Show must go on anyway. At least, that’s the stand taken by NBC.

During a recent new episode of his late night show, Leno delivered a monologue and announced that he’s writing his own jokes. However, under Writers Guild rules those who are still on strike are not allowed to write for any studio’s project. NBC maintains they’re following the rules, while the Guild says Leno is a member and subject to all the strike rules therein - which means, no writing. The entire issue is now going before a union panel.

With all this itty bitty quibbling, it’s no wonder no one can seem to get any negotiations scheduled which might actually end this thing.

No matter how you feel about the writers’ situation, what do you think about The Daily Show and The Colbert Report returning? Could they possibly be as good as they were pre-strike—or do you think the quality will suffer? Will you simply be happy to see them back regardless of the content?

Take note. If you want to see your favorite actors and actresses lined up in their finest, this may be the gala to watch. Thanks to the relationship between the WGA and the Screen Actors Guild, the 14th Annual SAG Awards presentation will be allowed to go on as planned. (The same cannot currently be said of the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards.) So set your Tivo to TNT on January 27. This may be last time you get to see a group of actors celebrating together for quite some time.

Although an official announcement has not yet been made, CBS may soon be seeing a spark of life in late-night as well. David Letterman and his company, Worldwide Pants, are hoping to broker an independent deal with the union. This could allow his program and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return with their normal writers in tow.